The most extreme sports always involve doing death-defying feats and making sure not to contact anyone you know beforehand so they can check up on your progress or if your will was filed properly. EXTREEEEEME!

For an active dropzone, it's not entirely uncommon for the dropzone management (i.e., the people in the office) to lose track of people. I'm told this particular dropzopne supports 700+ jumps a day in the summer.

Usually, a load organizer (a jumper on the plane) will keep some track of the people on a particular jump, but with some planes (e.g., a DeHavilland Twin Otter), that can be around 20 people - and it's not always easy for one person to keep track of them all. As a result, it's not unheard of for this sort of situation to arise.

What's unclear from the incident reports (not included in the article) is whether the jumper had an automatic activation device (a.k.a, an "AAD"), which is an electronic device that is to cut the reserve loop (and release the reserve) if the jumper is in free fall below a specified altitude. AADs are generally required by the Dutch skydiving authority's rules, except for very experienced jumpers. It's not clear whether his parachute harness system had one in it, whether it was there but wasn't turned on, or whether it was there, turned on, but didn't function as intended.

In any event, my condolences to his family and loved ones. Blue skies.

One edit to add - I recognize that the jump was 8 to 10 days ago, not in the summer, and probably nowhere near as busy (Netherlands in December is cold for jumping). In my opinion, best practices would have resulted in his disappearance being noted by the load organizer.

Skwrl:For an active dropzone, it's not entirely uncommon for the dropzone management (i.e., the people in the office) to lose track of people. I'm told this particular dropzopne supports 700+ jumps a day in the summer.

Usually, a load organizer (a jumper on the plane) will keep some track of the people on a particular jump, but with some planes (e.g., a DeHavilland Twin Otter), that can be around 20 people - and it's not always easy for one person to keep track of them all. As a result, it's not unheard of for this sort of situation to arise.

What's unclear from the incident reports (not included in the article) is whether the jumper had an automatic activation device (a.k.a, an "AAD"), which is an electronic device that is to cut the reserve loop (and release the reserve) if the jumper is in free fall below a specified altitude. AADs are generally required by the Dutch skydiving authority's rules, except for very experienced jumpers. It's not clear whether his parachute harness system had one in it, whether it was there but wasn't turned on, or whether it was there, turned on, but didn't function as intended.

In any event, my condolences to his family and loved ones. Blue skies.

Jaws_Victim:drjekel_mrhyde: They could have at least tried to call him or a contact of his

He was a loner and he died alone, without friends. I wonder when we can expect him to shoot up a school.

Not all loners shoot up schools or become serial killers. And not all mass murderers or serial killers are loners. I'm pretty much a loner, but I have no urge to kill or maim. I do my thing and if someone wants to join in, that's cool. I do make a point to call my Mama on occasion to check in (she's well supported, at 87yo, by my two sisters and a very large circle of friends), but don't go hunting down friends for companionship, I just don't need it. If they want to go have a beer, or need a wingman, I'm good to go. Lonership suits me fine, I wear my 'lone wolf' colors proudly, but will ride with just about anyone.

/He died doing his thing, what's wrong with that?//Where his body ended up didn't seem to matter to him.